TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Hungry for another state championship in their record-breaking seventh straight trip to the FHSAA Football State Championships, the Chaminade-Madonna Lions did not disappoint at all creating havoc all night long for Clearwater Central Catholic in a Thursday night tilt for the Class 1M State Championship at Gene Cox Stadium.
At the end of the night, the Lions captured the Class 1M State Championship over the outmatched Marauders and marked the second straight state championship for the school out of Hollywood.
VIDEO RECAP
FloridaHSFootball.com Publisher Joshua Wilson, Jon Santucci of USA TODAY Network in Florida, and Andy Villamarzo of SBLive recap the 2022 Class 1M State Championship Game with their thoughts.
CLOUDS OF SMOKE IN THE FIRST HALF
If the way the Lions came out on the field during their introductions were any indication, the clouds of smoke they created in the celebration hype were going to be the same clouds of smoke they were going to create against the Marauders.
With the Lions getting the ball first it was they were determined to get the first points of the night and they managed that in just the first 66 seconds of the game as Cedrick Bailey completed a short pass to the right to Joshisa Trader coming out of the no-huddle situation to put Chaminade-Madonna up 7-0.
That first touchdown play was set up a few plays earlier when Bailey found Jeremiah Smith down deep for a 40-yard gain that got them into the Marauders territory.
For Clearwater Central Catholic the goal of the night was trying to limit as much damage as they could from Chaminade-Madonna and one idea was trying to keep possession of the ball as long as possible.
And on the first drive of the game, they managed to do that with a nine-play 40-yard drive that took 4:50 off the clock before the Marauders were forced to punt the ball away.
However, that did not matter as the Lions took the next drive for seven plays and took 1:45 off the clock running the no-huddle offense that was guided by a deep pass by Bailey connecting with Edwin Joseph for 42 yards to get the Lions down to the Marauders 28. That drive was capped off with a Davion Gause 16-yard bruising run up the middle to put the Lions up 14-0.
Clearwater Central Catholic’s second drive of the first half saw them get down into the red zone at the Chaminade-Madonna 16 before going backward thanks to a Denzel Johnson sack that backed the Marauders up to the Lions 21.
That drive would end on a fourth down attempt on an incomplete pass by Jeshaun Newton who was looking for Luis Sanchez that was broken up by Zaquan Patterson.
If that didn’t add more fuel to the fire, the Lions came back out again with their no-huddle offense going for nine plays down the field with Bailey finding Smith for a 17-yard touchdown pass with 10:02 left before half taking less than two minutes off the clock.
Clearwater Central Catholic kept stumbling going three and out on their next drive, but some spark came with just about six minutes left before half when Nate Johnson III got in and blocked an Andrew Abu-Akel 31-yard field goal, representing about the only thing that went wrong for the Lions all night.
That blocked field goal was then scooped up by Sanchez and returned 60 yards down to the Chaminade-Madonna 11, giving them the best field position for the offense in the first half before faltering and turning it over on downs at the Chaminade-Madonna three.
Chaminade-Madonna proceeded to take the Marauders’ failure and pushed it right back against them running an eight-play, 97-yard drive taking just 1:50 off the clock that would be capped with a Bailey pass to Smith for 23 yards to put the Lions up 28-0, a score they would take with them into half.
Chaminade-Madonna would punt once in the entire first half, another rare thing we saw from the Lions in the game.
MARAUDERS COME ALIVE… BUT IT WOULD BE SHORT-LIVED
With receiving the second-half kickoff, the Marauders were looking for anything to get points on the board and to stop some of the momentum the Lions had carried into the locker room at halftime.
And sure, enough the Marauders would find their way to the endzone on a nine-play, 67-yard drive led by Lenwood Sapp and Newton that would be capped off by a one-yard Sapp touchdown to cut the score to 28-7 in favor of Chaminade-Madonna with 8:05 left in the third quarter.
However, that touchdown response from Clearwater Central Catholic was quickly met with a response from Chaminade-Madonna in just four plays and 1:40 taken off the clock when Gause went up the middle for a 10-yard touchdown to put the lead up to 35-7, but still not in the range for a running clock.
Clearwater Central Catholic would get the ball back by trying to respond back to the Lions’ score and trying to find ways to points fast, but it did not happen after going 10 plays down the field to the Chaminade-Madonna 25 before failing to convert on a fourth down play when Sapp gained only one of two yards needed.
For the Lions, their longest drive of the game came going into the fourth quarter that would be capped with a Duane Thomas Jr. 11-yard run up the right side to put the score 42-7 with 9:07 left in the game forcing the start of the running clock.
The Marauders would respond back with another touchdown drive of their own when Sapp went up the gut for five yards to cut the score back to a 28-point gap with 2:30 left in the game making the score 42-14.
The Lions would cap off their state championship win with a final touchdown by Bryant Junius to make it 48-14.
YOUR 2022 CLASS 1M STATE CHAMPIONS… THE CHAMINADE-MADONNA LIONS! @Nadeboyz @CMLions_Sports @HSFBamerica pic.twitter.com/jLGTds52Zg
— FloridaHSFootball.com (@FlaHSFootball) December 9, 2022
CHAMINADE-MADONNA HEAD COACH DAMEON JONES AFTER THE WIN
ONE FINAL GAME AHEAD FOR THE LIONS
The Lions will take a trip out to Las Vegas next week to take on Bishop Gorman as part of the GEICO National Bowl giving the team one more game and a chance to make a case to be declared mythical national champions.
